Letters

NCRTD in namesake was formed to provide seamless transportation to north central NM. This mobility did not exist previously and is a successful effort between city, county and tribal entities.
It requires dedication and foresight by all parties. No organization of this scope could flourish without growing pains; NCRTD has had its share. We cannot lose sight of the people served who have a safe and cost effect method of traveling to critical medical appointments, work or school.

I think the proposal to reduce Trinity Drive to one lane each way is silly.
I hope the Los Alamos County Council has the good sense to discard it. We know from the recent battle over Diamond Drive that county staff loves roundabouts.
Consultants get rich telling customers what they want to hear. Simulation studies can be loaded like dice to produce desired outcomes.
Voila! Roundabouts will provide smooth, increased traffic flow with a single lane and pedestrian crosswalks.

At the Los Alamos Transportation Board meeting at Fuller Lodge concerning Trinity Drive, I asked the MIG consultants a simple question: was there any example of a four-lane highway being narrowed down, and having its traffic flow improved?
Their answer was that there was one (only one?), La Jolla Boulevard in Bird Rock, Calif., in San Diego.
Joel Williams has done the research regarding this street. To quote the information he located, “drivers often use the interior streets to avoid the traffic and roundabouts on La Jolla Boulevard.

The article in the April 19 Los Alamos Monitor about the CIP budget reminded me again how White Rock seemingly gets the short shrift in county government.
There seems to be no CIP money budgeted for the White Rock revitalization scheme including the Canada Del Buey trail and N.M. 4 improvements.
Nor is there money for roadwork in White Rock, which should include reconstruction of Ridgecrest and Meadow.
Perhaps the changes by the county government being discussed at the Charter Review Committee should include more representation for White Rock.

How quickly we forget! Remember when Los Alamos was evacuated because of fire danger? Traffic ran rather smoothly to get us off the main hill area.
Please don’t tell me that a two-lane Trinity Drive with one to five roundabouts is going to ease traffic during our morning, noon and evening rushes or when evacuating for another unexpected event.
With Central Avenue now a congested area — enough is enough.

Anthony Amsden expressed himself very well in his letter in the Los Alamos Monitor on April 17, in which he said, “Leave Trinity at 4 Lanes.” I have watched Anthony over the years, and recognize that he is a brilliant scientist. The Transportation Board should pay careful attention to his reasoning.

Let me get this straight. The county is all about supporting small businesses in Los Alamos. They want this grand municipal building to attract people to live in Los Alamos.
So, they want Los Alamos to grow, right? They are developing Trinity Site to attract more businesses so people won’t have to shop off the hill, right? They want to redo Trinity so it’s more pleasing to the eye. They want to reduce it to two lanes with roundabouts.
First of all, it is a business loop for a state highway. Second, it is a main artery through town providing access to businesses. Central already gets backed up since the “reconstruction” was done to make it look “nice.”

Much of the discussion regarding the new design of Trinity Drive evolves around the density of traffic.
Why do we allow a state highway, N.M. 502, to commute through the center of Los Alamos? Why not investigate an alternate route such as Los Alamos Canyon?
There is an old road in Los Alamos Canyon that exists from N.M. 4 to beyond the ice rink.
It could link to a roundabout at Trinity and Diamond and disperse the same amount of traffic to Los Alamos National Laboratory, North Community and downtown.
It would require more creative thinking, time and effort.

The following letter was sent April 17 to F. Curtis Smith, acting CEO of the Los Alamos Medical Center.
We wish to commend you on many staff who cared so skillfully and devotedly for our wife and mother, Beverly M. Keenan, during her final days of life, which ended April 6, 2011.
While we fully grant that care and consideration by hospital staff might be considered “just part of the job” we quickly learned that full and complete demonstration of these acts on their part exceeded all “normal” facets of personal attention and devotion.
We wish to especially commend Dr. Matthew Fey, Dr. John Garcia, Dr. Richard Honsinger, Scott Staley RN, Jesse White RN, Natalie Fischer RN, Beverly Romero RN and Loretta Stapleton RN.

On a beautiful Sunday morning, March 20, 2011, we had over 120 participants walk or run along a scenic course in the Eastern Area, expertly designed by Ted Williams, President of the Atomic City Roadrunners. Our efforts raised over $6,000 and all the proceeds will go toward breast cancer research by Hadassah Hospital, the premier medical institution in the Middle East and discoverer of the breast cancer genes BRCA-1 and BRCA-2.
We would like to thank the following sponsors for their support toward this worthwhile cause:
CHRISTUS St. Vincent Regional Medical Center
Los Alamos Medical Center
Neptune and Company
Paul and Kendra Henning, ReMax Los Alamos
Pearl White, Real Estate Associates
CB Fox Department Store